Wednesday, April 05, 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said Wednesday.Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport in northern England and Harraj Mann, 24, was taken off.

The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash's 1979 anthem "London Calling," which features the lyrics "Now war is declared -- and battle come down" while other lines warn of a "meltdown expected."

Mann told British newspapers the taxi had been fitted with a music system which allowed him to plug in his MP3 player and he had been playing The Clash, Procol Harum, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles to the driver.

"He didn't like Led Zeppelin or The Clash but I don't think there was any need to tell the police," Mann told the Daily Mirror.

9 Comments:

i think so too. almost added a bit about how it's been recognized as such. also why i didn't post the typography. i love how it's one hundred percent expression. fuck technical quality. i could go on and on. the composition is very 'golden mean.' it says something about fragility and youth. it's really beautiful.

Fragility and youth? And all this time I was content to just think of the photo as the essence and spirit of Rock and Roll - giving oneself over to the raw ecstasy of the moment. While I understand your point Brook and respect what your view, there doesn't seem much fragility in Paul Simonon smashing the guts out of his bass against the stage. We're all here to express what we feel about things, at least while freedom is still free - Uhmm, it still is, isn't it Bill?

Of course, perhaps the saddest picture in Rock and Roll is a clip from the "Feed the World" concerts. The clip is of a reunited Who, and as they play 'Won't Get Fooled Again', poor old Saint Pete goes to throw his leg over the mic stand as he had done a thousand times before, and the man who sang "Hope I die before I get old," doesn't quite clear the stand and falls on dead on his ass. A sad day, indeed. This clip is edited out of the DVD of the concert and could only be seen live as it happened.

the "fragility" thing comes from the skinniness of the neck of the guitar and how much force is about to be asserted on it in the moment before destruction. you can almost hear it crack. you can feel it in your hands. visually, the picture connects you with that energy b/c the shutter was open exactly at the moment of repose. the film was fast enough to capture the hardness of the edges -- the SOLIDITY of the moment.

then there's intimacy of the photographer to the act of passion. this isn't the view the audience had. this was unexpected. it took someone backstage, with a sense of the moment.

and, this is not a 'good' moment. he says in Q mag that the audience wasn't responding. it was at the Paladium which had fixed seating and people couldn't move. i get the sense that it part anger and part having more rock to give.

here's a quote

"We used to get cheap Fenders from CBS, they were newer models, quite light and insubstantial. But the one I smashed that night was a great bass, a Fender Precision, one of the older heavy, solid models, so i did regret breaking it. in fact, i gathered all the pieces up and kept them. "

I agree with you there Brook. I myself have felt that extraordinary moment, nearly orgasmic in nature, and born of absolute frustration when there's nothing left to do but raise that thing over your head and pound that it against the stage so hard your feet leave the ground. No disrespect to Old Saint Pete, but it's hardly something one can plan for. In my case, it was a crummy rock club in Clarksville, TN. in a joint called "The Beverly Hills Country Club" complete with metal detectors in the doors. Last set, I had earlier broken a string on my bass and I had to use my soundman's bass, a Gibson Grabber. Such a god awful bass, and there was nothing left to do in the end but whomp that sucker into tooth picks!!! Better than sex!!!Grrrrrr...